cheilectomy-diary

Been to the beach last night and this afternoon, aided by a short car ride (someone else driving) and a short walk along the boardwalk to the sea. Decided against swimming just yet as the incision wound still isn't quite fixed. It looks a bit red and nasty in places and is still oozing a little, so I don't want to risk infection or soaking it too long.  Talking of which, when I shower, afterwards the foot looks nasty. It gets red and purple and puffy. It does settle down quite quickly and I've read in other blogs that some people experience this. I'll reduce the time and temperature of showers as much as possible. And afterwards, I elevate the leg and ice. Still, gonna keep an eye on that.  I've also noticed the skin is pretty scaly on this foot - possibly due to wearing compression sock for a period of time during the hottest temperatures on record (28 degrees at night) and an old tan coming off, as well as not walking, bathing and moisterising in my normal way.  T

Spending a LOT of time reading other people's blogs and alternately making myself a) optimistic that the pain, flexion and swelling is NORMAL, and b) getting completely freaked out that it's all going to pot! So probably best just to STOP reading other people's stuff for a while and concentrate on getting back to normal. But what does 'normal' look like? Well, for me, it would be walking 5-7 miles a day, being able to swim in the sea and ride a bike and get out and do stuff. None of that is possible right now, so it looks and feels like I'm a very long way from being 'normal' again. However, I am doing more than I was two weeks ago. I am able to shower, dress, get downstairs, make my own meals, hobble the dog down the street and back, do my gentle toe bending exercises, be pain free (apart from when I'm stretching and walking on the toe) and I was even able to go down to the corner shop and back yesterday. And I went for a little walk while a friend

Still resting and icing and elevating. And the area of the surgery is still stiff, swollen and sore. But that's to be expected. I've been reading lots of blogs and other literature on the recovery to see if I can track my recovery. There are variables obviously - age, fitness, healing propensity, type of surgery and so forth - but it's really helpful (and often reassuring) to track your recovery along side similar experiences of folk who have had the same procedures.  My go-to's are these: https://jemesouviens2004.com/2016/06/ https://cheilectomy-surgery-experience.northwoodswebdesigns.com/ https://cheilectomyexperience.blogspot.com/2013/07/table-of-contents-full-history.html?m=1 I've started doing my physio stretches as directed - 2 times a day for 5 minutes each session. There's really not much flex there at the moment (it IS quite swollen) and reading the other blogs, that seems to be fairly standard at this point, just over 2 weeks post-op. The dorsal flex (

Had a walk-in shower today. Hoorah! Then did the first of the exercises - pushing the toe back and forth. Had to put a dressing on the wound because it's still weeping, and then got a lift out to sit on a bench and watch the view while a mate walked the dog.  I guess I had worked myself up to the milestone that was yesterday, without much thought as to what comes next. So in my mind I was going to be doing a 5K walk already and just getting back to normal. Boy, how wrong was I. Once I had got round the fact that it's going to be AT LEAST another 2-3 weeks before I can hope to even get to walking far, and that this is NORMAL, I reset my expectations and got over my disappointment.  Right now I feel more sore and more vulnerable when I'm walking than I have been the last few days scooting around in my surgical shoe. But that's NORMAL. The consultant encouraged me to start to walk around gently on the foot, that it will be sore at first, and I should be realistic in my exp

Finally, it's the day of the post-op hospital visit. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic (and other stuff), all these types of procedures are being done in a suite at a small private hospital near the airport, so it's a 70 mile round trip from where I live (even though usually I'd go a few minutes down the road to the County hospital in my town). So needed have someone drive me. Meanwhile I tested out what shoes I'd take to replace the surgical shoe. Once at the hospital I had a couple of x-rays (which required me to weightbear on the foot). The screw I had inserted is clearly visible on the pics, still not quite sure what its purpose is! The one above shows the diminished space between the MTP joint where the cartilage is missing. All looks good according to my podiatry surgeon (Dr James Alvey). The incision wound is still a bit weepy - it's been in the compression bandage a couple of very hot weeks - so it really needs exposure to air now to finish off healing. So no

 Lots of mobility now - whizzing around doing everything for myself, except shopping and walking the dog. Can walk ok in the surgical shoe and do stuff like preparing meals and washing up, getting up and down stairs, walking to the car. Still icing the foot just to ward off any swelling, wiggling the toe and stretching it. Sometimes, without warning it has a sudden ache - similar but not as intense to the pain I'd experience often before surgery.  Went out to the local tea rooms for a couple of hours with the Sunday papers, so feeling a little more normal.  Looking forward to tomorrow when I have my post-op appointment back at the hospital, and to losing the surgical shoe and the bulky bandages. 

Managed to hobble to the park for a bit using a mate's crutches. Surprised I didn't get issued crutches when I was discharged. They would have come in handy. Maybe they don't issue them because they'd encourage being on the feet too much when you should be resting. No pain, and no swelling after my park jaunt - though I did ice it just to be sure.  Worse problem now seems to be getting cramp in the middle of the night. And the toe is still pretty active when I'm sleeping - doing lots of involuntary stretches!

I went out last night! Whoa! OK so it was just a 2 minute drive to the local park to sit on a bench while a friend walked the dog, but it was amazing to be out. Made it feel like a bit of a milestone. Last night was the most restless the foot as been. I kept being woken up with the toe going through full stretching. It felt pretty tired and achy this morning, but more mobile than it has been. Icing it this morning and taking a paracetamol for any swelling.  The area around the incision is lively in the evening now, and I can feel it more. Not pain, just healing I guess. Can't wait to get the bandage off. I've seen some posts where folk have had the dressing removed/replaced a few days after surgery, but my discharge notes clearly state NOT to disturb the dressing or bandage until the follow-up appointment 10-14 days after surgery (14 days for me). In fact, I watched a good video on how to do the type of bandage I have (linked to here Meyerson's Wrap  technique), and it does

Woke up in the middle of the night with cramp in the calf muscle of the leg where I've had the surgery. Not bad, but certainly an indication of the lack of walking/stretching over the last week and a half. It didn't last, and I went back to sleep. But when I woke up this morning, the toe felt like I'd run a marathon. I think I recall as I was disturbed in my sleep, that the foot was pretty restless and I reckon I'd been doing quite a few involuntary stretches through the course of the night. This 'restlessness' seems to be a burgeoning feature: from the incision site 'waking up', getting a little itchy (a good sign of wound healing), and the toe becoming quite wriggly - feeling the need to stretch it and move it (a good sign of bone healing?) I didn't have any ibuprofen during the day yesterday, but I did end up taking some before bed, as the foot felt like it needed something - like there was a kind of bone ache. Today, so far, I've not taken an

Foot continues to improve. Icing a couple of times today continues to improve overall sense of 'tightness' in the foot. Have discontinued the ibuprofen now, see how that goes. I'm pretty much fending for myself now - though I did need to employ help to take out the rubbish/garbage, and did have my meal prepared for me last night.  This lunchtime I really fancied eggs, so I made myself an omelette. Strange how little moments of returned independence really boost the serotonin levels (or maybe that was just the food..!) My work is normally mostly a desk job but I don't have any work at the moment, which is a kind of relief, because although I'd welcome the distraction (not to mention the money - luckily the NHS paid for my procedure), I think being able to keep the foot elevated these last few days has been really beneficial. Working on the laptop in a lying down position is fine for the purposes of writing this blog, but I wouldn't be able to do it for 8 hours a

Returned to the icing and cold packs today. Completely forgot yesterday.  Previously, I had been placing the cold press behind the knee as directed by the patient guide I'd received on discharge. But today, I've placed in on the back of the heel, and oh boy, the difference! I could immediately feel the cool blood pouring into the foot. What relief! I'm fine while the foot is elevated, but as soon as I put it down, the blood rushes there and it throbs. It gets better after a while, and now when I'm up and about on it - I cooked dinner last night - it does still take a while for it to settle when I rest up. But that is getting better all the time - the recovery time is less and less. I'm beginning to wonder if I could do with unwrapping the bandage - it's feeling tight. Perhaps due to the weather - unseasonably high temperatures continue. Meanwhile, I keep it iced, elevated and make sure I hydrate more. Doing some gentle wiggling of the toe now and it feels much b

It's a week now since I had a cheilectomy and osteotomy to help restore some flex to my big toe. Which means today I get to take off the tubigrip and TED stocking. (TED stands for thrombo-embolud detergent.) Yay! This is important in two ways. Firstly it's SO nice to have my legs bare again - the UK is experiencing unusual temperatures of over 100 degrees F. But more importantly it feels like a milestone in the recovery period. One small step for the overall recovery times for Cheilectomy surgery, but one big step for little old me. The pain level is zero, but popped an ibuprofen this morning with breakfast just to keep on top of any swelling (though clearly the main route to avoiding the dreaded swelling I've read about is to keep the foot ELEVATED 23 hours a day). The area around the incision is beginning to wake up and I guess the dressing may be stuck to it, so it pulls a bit from time to time and is beginning to itch a little. I've been advised NOT to remove the dr

Yesterday, after a day without anyone around, it was a relief when friends turned up with dinner to cook for me. I was pretty low from being on my own and not being able to walk, get out, go swimming, do anything that requires being on your feet.  So a nice evening with friends, a couple of beers and food. The foot did feel pretty  'tight' by the time I got into bed, probably the tightest it's felt yet. Goes to show that REST is your best friend in the first couple of week. Foot UP, ELEVATED. Give into it. A mate stayed over, so I had tea and breakfast brought me this morning and the dog was walked. So she's happy. Now I'm spending the rest of day with my foot up in the garden, doing some 'bed/chair' yoga and mainly adopting 'happy baby pose'. I'm still taking ibuprofen twice a day for anti-inflammatory purposes, and will probably start to reduce that over the next couple of days. 

I woke up in the middle of the night in some discomfort. I think what must have happened was I inadvertently stretched the big toe where I had surgery in my sleep. It was pretty unpleasant, but it soon subsided and I went off to sleep again. This morning my spirits are pretty low, as I had planned a big day celebrating in friends from near and far and having a picnic then heading to a party this evening. As it is, I'm stuck home and all my friends are out celebrating without me. This is pretty difficult for me as the last couple of years have been incredibly isolating. My relationship broke down, we had endless lock-downs, I moved house a couple of times, and my dog has had cancer and surgery and is quite elderly now, my mum has been diagnosed with Alzheimers and I'm feeling like she's becoming less and less present. Some friends were coming from London and I was looking forward to being 'normal' again. Alas, it wasn't to be. But when I was offered the surgery,

This is the first day off the pain meds. I swapped over to one 200mg ibuprofen in the morning and the evening, supplemented with a 500mg paracetamol during the day. It was fine, but I really needed that ibuprofen when I went to bed tonight! This is probably due to increased activity - I was moving around a fair bit, and sat on the sofa watching a movie last night with the foot on a stool - and there was less time with the foot raised above heart level. I can move the toe a bit now, just gently downwards - haven't attempted trying to bend it upwards yet. I do gentle exercises - rotating the ankles on both legs, gently flexing the ankle back and forth, and using a stretchy band on the non-surgical foot to stretch the calf muscles, keeping both legs elevated up a wall and feeling the lovely flow of fresh blood as I lower them down to waist level again.  It helps to bring a bit of massage to the feet, the ankles, the toes and the calves all benefit from stimulating the blood flow. Ther

Good night sleep, walked to the bathroom - yay! - rested for an hour to let the foot settle after the pressure of using it - it does feel pretty tight after use. The feeling is now all back in the foot (they did need to give me a lot of anesthetic on the day of surgery, so maybe it took a while to get rid of the numbness). There's more 'nerve' discomfort than there is pain, and the foot feels really restless coming up to taking the meds, so I supplement with one or two paracetamol during the day, which helps.  Peaked up the tubigrip and found some bruising on the toe next to the big one, and some on the heel (this will be where I involuntarily kicked out during the nerve test and this caused the anaesthetist to catch a vein, so this was to be expected. Change of scene! I made it downstairs and into the hammock - good cos it means your foot is raised above the heart. I even supervised the making of supper and had a beer! Last night of pain meds and off to bed.

It does get better. After the low feelings yesterday brought about by the pain that meant I couldn't walk to the bathroom, and after getting used to the routine of getting in and out of bed and crawling back and forth, I gave myself over to a day of Netflix and ensuring my leg was raised above heart level to help alleviate any unpleasant feelings of pressure of swelling building up. At least I wasn't experiencing any unpleasant side effects from the pain meds. The omeprazole seemed to be doing its job. Today was better in all sorts of ways - namely I was able to hobble (yay!) to the bathroom and have a in-bath shower by sitting in the bath with my surgery foot hooked up over the edge - it's important not to get the bandages and wound wet - and douche with the handheld shower. I'm lucky I have this option, as a walk-in shower is out the question (and I didn't want to risk one of the those half leg shower covers you can buy).  I did have some fun trying to work out ho

I didn't sleep great - woke up every hour or so. Then I was woken around 3 a.m. with what I guess is best described as a very restless foot. It still felt numb although I could discern a finger nail when I dug it into the top of the four toes beside the big toe (the tip of which was still numb).  As I began to find more awareness in the foot, it felt hot, under pressure (swelling I guess), some pins and needles and then bone pain. I wondered if I could start my pain meds yet (I had been directed to start on day 2 with pain meds in the morning and then again at 12 hour intervals for 3 days). That probably meant starting at 7 a.m. But within the hour, I was sitting up, peeling a banana, and taking the first round of meds. After around twenty minutes I felt them kicking in - like the pain just draining away - and I was able to go off to sleep again. I woke up and had some breakfast brought to me by my partner and then they headed off for the morning leaving me a flask of tea. At this

Day 1 - surgery Arrived for a midday appointment. It's important to make sure you have someone who can take you to (and more importantly) collect you from your appointment. You CANNOT (nor will you want to) drive after the surgery. And trust me, you ain't gonna be taking public transport either. I was advised that because I was having a local anaesthetic, I could eat and drink normally, to bring something to eat and drink and a pair of shorts to wear under the hospital gown and a dressing-gown to wear over the top. I changed and ate my lunch and drank my flask of tea and discussed the pain meds that I'll be taking for the first three days after surgery (my worse fear - way worse than the surgical procedure - and the point of all my questions). I do not get on with painkillers - namely, my stomach doesn't. I took ONE co-codamol tab for the knee when I did it in. OMG! The cramp in my stomach was abysmal. I took FOUR ibuprofens the following day, and by day three my inside

In May 2022 I saw a specialist who confirmed my diagnosis of arthritis of the big toe, hallux rigidus (stage 2). X-rays showed I had diminished joint space and osteophytes peri-articular, with a range of movement 20 degrees dorsiflexion (normally 50 degrees for a walking gait - 65 running) and 10 degrees plantar (sole) flexion. Usually for people in my age group (over 50's) the recommended course of treatment is destructive surgery, whereby the toe is fused rigid with plate and screws to stop it bending and creating more arthritis. The primary objective is pain elimination.  A quick word on pain:- since the accident with the axle grinder two and half years earlier, I have experienced pain or discomfort in the foot at the big toe around 90% of the time (and that includes while in bed or at rest). The pain can be classified as between 0-10 on a scale (0 - no pain/ 10 - excruciating) in the following: 1. At rest/asleep - 5 - often I would be woken up by it in the middle of the night,

My GP* sent me for x-rays and referred me to the local MSK (musculoskeletal) partnership and finally in February 2022 I got an appointment for an examination.  A podiatry specialist took a look at the x-rays, asked me to walk back and forth, quizzed me on my conservative methods thus far (orthotics, anti-inflammatories etc.) and said surgery was now my best bet.  I have to say I was a bit shocked. At no point had I thought surgery would be an answer to this (in fact, I had assumed that even presenting at the GP wouldn't achieve anything - this thing would fix itself, right?) The podiatrist briefly talked me through the surgical options - joint preserving, joint destructing, joint replacement, suggested it looked like joint destruction was best one for me, and put me down as a referral to see a specialist surgeon.  Gosh, so I was looking at getting my toe fused permanently. Yikes, I had really hoped it would be some physio and then all better. I had some thinking to do. The range of

  In summer 2019 I dropped one of these bad boys (an axle grinder) on my  Not the best use for it. Ouch! (the language was a little fruitier) For a few weeks after it hurt at the bigger second joint, the metatarsophalangeal or MTP joint for short. I didn't bother going to the doc (it's just a toe, right?), and carried on walking this one: My dog-walking buddies - all with various foot ailments of their own (well, we are all middle-aged and been round the block) - commiserated and speculated that it would right itself in time.  Sure - just walk my way through it. So I did - hobble - for the next couple of months. It wasn't getting better, but then - bang! - even worse was to come, I did my knee in. Same leg (right) and that took way more precedence. I couldn't walk at all for a few weeks, presented to the doc, strapped the knee and began rehabilitation. For the next couple of months, the knee was the thing. I forgot the toe (I could barely walk anyway).  Then the unimagi